Sen. Mark Udall released an ad attacking his opponent for “promoting harsh anti-abortion laws,” and “champion[ing] an eight year crusade to outlaw birth control.”

Jumping to the “war on women” tends to be the Democrats go to when they’re in need of a cheap shot. Udall released this ad on Monday; right as a PPP poll came out showing 47 percent of respondents would vote for Udall in 2014 and 45 percent said they would vote for Gardner.

On Wednesday, Politico reported that a U.S. Chamber of Commerce poll found “Rep. Cory Gardner up by 2 points among likely voters.” Then on Thursday a Quinnipiac poll found the race was virtually tied, with Udall at 45 percent to Gardner’s 44 percent.

White House counterterrorism director John Brennan came under intense questioning on Thursday by the Senate Intelligence Committee over his views on interrogating terrorists and drone strikes against them.

A new front is opening in the Senate confirmation fight over former Sen. Chuck Hagel as senators from states with nuclear bases are questioning the defense secretary nominee’s role in the Global Zero commission that advocates eliminating all nuclear weapons and making unilateral strategic arms cuts.

The office of director of national intelligence James Clapper changed the CIA’s draft talking points on the Sept. 11 Benghazi terrorist attack to omit references to al Qaeda as being linked to the attack, according to a U.S. official.